As of 15th July 2024 yes you can now use V1.5 for serious projects. It’s now out of Beta testing and is in a stable form. Unfortunately for anyone using older versions of Windows such as 7 it will not run on these versions. On Windows 8 it may run, but with some issues..
Can I use the new modules from V1.5 in V1.4?
Well they will work, but…this is a big but you could encounter serious issues if you use them in a VST, as they are not optimised for V1.4.
What’s New in V1.5? (Stable, but new additions may be made in the future)
System Requirements/Specifications.
- Requires Windows 10 to run reliably.
- macOS plugins require macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) or better.
New Features. (Subject to change)
MIDI 2.0 and MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) support.
MIDI output support in plugins (depends on DAW support)
Apple Silicon (ARM) support.
VST3 plugins are supported on mac (not all macOS DAWs support VST3).
SFZ (Sample Playback) now supported.
Windows in the editor are now ‘zoomable’ (<CTRL> mouse-wheel).
Searchable module browser.
New oversampling mode for control-signals (add * to pin name)
‘Export as JUCE’ supports additional plugin formats in some cases (AAX, CLAP, Standalone)
Faster loading of projects.
New XML-based project format (human readable)
‘Ignore Program Change’ feature returns.
VST3 bypass parameter support (add a Bool PatchMemory called “BYPASS”)
Known Issues.
MIDI out from VST3 plugins depends on DAW support. Some DAWs, like Cubase, do not support this.
Partially transparent images may render too dark on macOS.
Parameter limits (i.e. high-value and low-value) are not enforced in the SynthEdit editor but are enforced by the DAW in plugins. This behaviour is needed to support older projects.
It seems that some older graphics cards/PC’s even if they are running Windows 10 can cause SE 1.5 to crash on start up- there appears to be no solution apart from a new PC. It looks like its caused by old/buggy driver software which doesn’t support some of the graphics methods used in V1.5.
Universal VST 3 plug-ins.
A universal plugin is one that can run on either macOS or Windows. SynthEdit now produces universal VST3 plugins. This means you can offer the same download to macOS and Windows users. It will ‘just work’. SynthEdit universal VST3s support both Intel Mac computers and also ‘Apple Silicon’ (ARM) based ones such as the M1, M2, and later.
As a result of being universal, VST3 plugins now take a little more disk space and contain more files than with previous versions of SynthEdit.
Note: Universal VST3 plugins might fail to scan in some DAW’s. A workaround is to delete the ‘MacOS’ folder inside the VST3 plugin using some free software very kindly supplied by Davidson https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sozlsa0Xgzb4KPSn707g1nATNrZaW9Mz/view?usp=sharing. You do need to be careful using this software however. There is a read me with the software which you must read.
MIDI 2.0
SynthEdit 1.5 understands and works with MIDI 2.0.
This should work automatically in most cases. However, if you are using 3rd-party MIDI plugins you will need to use a MIDI Converter module to convert their incoming MIDI to version 1.0. You don’t need any converter on the output, SE will convert it back to MIDI 2.0 as needed.
MPE support implementation for various DAW’s:
Bitwig:
Note expression works for VST3 plugins. I (Jeff) set up my controller as a “Seaboard RISE” and set the bend range to 48.
Cubase:
Add an Instrument Track containing your VST3 plugin.
In the Inspector change the track MIDI input from “All MIDI Inputs” to your MPE controller. e.g. “Seaboard block”
In the Inspector open the “Note Expression” section. tick “MIDI as Note Expression”
Select “Tuning”, in the box below and assign it to “Horizontal/X”
Select “Brightness”, and assign it to “Vertical/Y”
Assign “Poly Pressure” to “Pressure(P)”
Ableton Live:
Ableton Live (MacOS) supports MPE for Audio Unit plugins on macOS.
Ableton Live (Windows) does not currently support VST3 Note Expression, but you can get MPE to work by following the steps below:
Firstly you need an MPE Control module to allow you to force the plugin into MPE Mode.
In Ableton Insert your VST3 plugin, then ensure that the VST plugins MPE Mode is set to “On”. Open Ableton’s settings and ensure that Ableton’s MIDI controllers MPE tick-box is Off. Yes that’s correct select Off! (On is actually off! Very confusing but blame Ableton’s programmers)
You then need to set up 16 MIDI tracks in Ableton to route all the channels to the VST3 plugin (If you don’t do this Ableton will merge all channels into one).
This page explains how to set up several tracks to handle all the MIDI channels of MPE in Ableton.
https://support.roli.com/support/solutions/articles/36000019096-ableton-using-the-seaboard-rise-grand-with-ableton-live
Note that the automatic MPE support in Ableton 11 does not work with VST3 plugins yet.
Reaper:
With Reaper, MPE with Audio Unit plugins works provided the instrument has an ‘MPE Control’ module, and the user switches it to ‘MPE On’.
For VST3 plugins I (Jeff) needed to use the same export setting as for Ableton Live
(‘MPE Emu’, and enable MPE from the MPE Control module). But it worked right away on a single instrument track.
New program features.
Preset Modified:
A new option in SE 1.5 is the ‘Preset Modified’ indicator. You can use it to add an indicator to your preset menu to show that the user has modified an existing preset in some way.
Below we use the ‘Concat’ module to add an asterisk (*) to the preset name whenever the preset has been modified.
The asterisk is entered into the ‘List to Text’ module as the ‘item list’. i.e.: “,*” (a comma followed by an asterisk).
Cubase “Bypass” button:
To support the Cubase bypass button you will need to add a dedicated ‘Patch Parameter – Bool’ to your plugin. Rename it as “Bypass”.
Then you can hook that up however you prefer to implement the bypass. For example, you can connect it to a switch module that sends the input signal directly to the output whenever the bypass mode is enabled.
How to emulate “Ignore Program Change”
This feature enables the ‘Ignore Program Change’ feature to work in plugins. (previously it worked only in the Editor). Whereby when you change a preset, one or more controls will stay as they were, unchanged. This is useful for controls like ‘Master Volume’ or ‘Master Tuning’ which you might not want to change with each individual preset.
Saving projects in VST2 format:
SynthEdit 1.5 (and future later versions) does not directly support the saving of VST2 plugins (only VST3 is supported).
However, some projects can also be loaded in the older version (SynthEdit 1.4) and exported as VST2 plugins from there.
To save some hassle SE 1.5 export has a tick-box option ‘Create a VST2 using SE 1.4’. All this does is automatically launch SynthEdit Version 1.4 (if it’s installed) and export the same project from there.
Limitations:
The project file you are converting must be compatible with the SE 1.4 file format *.se1 not the newer *.synthedit file format
The project must rely only 64 bit modules that are SE 1.4 compatible
You must have the latest SE 1.4 installed (Build number 695 or later)
Multi-channel VST plugins:
SynthEdit plugins with more than 2 inputs or outputs can now load into Cubase as multichannel plugins (1 ‘bus’, many channels).
Alternatively, when exporting you can choose “Outputs as Stereo Pairs” which will create a plugin with multiple buses, each with two channels.
Note: If you change these options, Cubase may fail to recognize the change unless you delete Cubase’s existing plugin cache file (VST3plugins.xml) and rescan the plugin.
Some DAWs like Ableton Live might not recognize multichannel plugins (only ones with the “stereo pairs” option).
I see that V 1.5 can be downloaded, is it OK to use, or should I wait?
If you are only going to use it to see what’s new, and try out the new functions and modules yes it’s fine. From experience it may not run (or be glitchy and buggy) on older PCs.
It will only run on Windows 10 or 11.
Sorry Windows 7 and 8 users, but your options are:
1) Upgrade your PC
2) Stay with V1.4.
Just remember its still undergoing Beta testing and is subject to update and changes, some of the newer modules are still a work in progress so are not fully functional.
Use with care as updates may well “break” an existing design made with the current version number of V1.5
As always with Beta software bug reports are welcome (NOT HERE) but at the “GroupsIO” message board: groups.io/g/synthedit/messages using the hashtag #bugreport. It’s free to join up and you’ll find a lot of help and support on there.